Creativity Prompts for Writers, Journalers, Artists and Speakers

The history of merit badges in the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) has been tracked by categorizing them into a series of merit badge types. In addition to the Boy Scouts of America, many other Scouting and Scouting-like organizations around the world, such as Pathfinders, Baden-Powell Scouts and Royal Rangers, issue merit badges or their equivalent; though they are sometimes called honors or proficiency badges. Other organizations, such as fire brigades, issue badges or awards that they refer to as merit badges, but that are in some respects different from the badges awarded by the BSA.

…In 1911, the BSA manufactured the first official 57 merit badges and began awarding them.The number of badges available has been as high as 127 in 1975 and again in 1987. As of March 2014, the number of badges available is 134. Merit badge types are identifiable by the cloth and manufacturing process used to make them. The classification of badges into types came about as a way for collectors to categorize and classify their collections. Merit badge collectors often collect other Scouting memorabilia as well. –Wikipedia

Fiction Writing Prompt: Write a story in which the pursuit of a merit badge (or some equivalent) drives the plot.

Journaling Prompt: Write about a merit badge or some other award you earned that meant a great deal to you.

Art Prompt: Merit badge

Non-Fiction / Speechwriting Prompt: Tell your audience about the history of merit badges.

The fabulous ZenCherry, aka Maureen Hovermale, has awarded me the 7 x 7 Link Award. I am so honored to receive this. Just like any award, there are some requirements. First, I have to answer 7 questions about my blog, then recommend 7 other bloggers. So let’s start with the questions. I had some problems with this because my posts aren’t necessarily traditional blog posts. Feel free to jump in on the comment thread and tell me what you thought:

Most Popular Post: My ROW80 Round 4 progress post. This is a bit of a cheat since I’m putting every update on that same post. Still, it’s got the most comments, so here it is.

Most Controversial Post: The Psychology of Socioeconomic Classes. To be honest, this one was controversial with me as well. I’d rather believe that we can overcome our class patterning. According to this research, we largely don’t.

Most Surprisingly Successful Post: Psychological Manipulation – I was a little worried about posting such a long excerpt from an article about why women don’t leave their abusers. I was very surprised at the positive response. I hope this helped raise awareness of how these women are manipulated so that people will stop judging them and start empowering them.

Most Underrated Post: Create a Religion. An essential for sci-fi, fantasy, or speculative fiction writers.

Most Pride-worthy Post: Unexpected Consequences. I think that developing this mindset will make me a better writer.

The second 7 is to give this award out to 7 deserving blogs. Wow, I love so many blogs. This is hard. I’d give it back to ZenCherry in a second, but she’s already got one, so I’m going to try to spread the love around.

Sue Ann Bowling at The Homecoming Blog. I am fascinated by Jarn’s Journal entries, posted once a week. Sue Ann posts something every day, but it’s Jarn I wait for.

Sara Healy at A Sharing Connection. Sara has responded to a couple of my prompts and blown me away with her creativity.

Debra Elliott at Words are Timeless. She’s got several blogs. I don’t know where she gets the energy.

Janece Herrington at The Wild Pomegranate. I love her posts. I once begged her to allow me to link to one in a carnival. Go meet her!

Laura at Catharsis. You will laugh, you will cry, you will learn something. Awesome blog!

Theresa Varela at Latina Libations. I really enjoy how she weaves spirituality, psychology, and writing into her personal journey.

Julie Jordan Scott at Julie Unplugged. Julie’s joyful dance with creativity has been inspiring me for several years.

Go show these folks some comment love and congratulate them on their award. Follow their blogs and see who they pass the award on to.

I am honored to be the recipient of two blog awards today: The Versatile Blogger award, courtesy of the marvelous romance author, Myne Whitman and the Liebster Blog award, courtesy of super science fiction author, Sue Ann Bowling. I met both of these women on SheWrites, a social networking site for women writers. Check all three of those pages out. The thing about these blog awards is that they make you work for them! So here we go!

Rules:– Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them in your post.– Share 7 things about yourself.– Pass this Award along to 15 recently discovered blogs and let them know about it!

Myne, thank you so much for this award and for giving me the opportunity to talk about myself a little bit.

I am a Toastmaster. There needs to be a 12 step group for this really. I just can’t stop going to meetings! I love speaking and evaluating. I am a fanatic about contests. I earned my Distinguished Toastmaster award last year (that’s as high as you can go, so please, be a little impressed even if you don’t know what it means).

I work for a behavioral health non-profit as an administrative assistant. I work primarily with computers, but the programs I work for are all about helping kids. Perhaps you will not be surprised to know that I formed a Toastmasters group for the kids. They aren’t old enough to be official Toastmasters, so it’s called a Gavel Club.

I am a geek. I love Dr. Who, Star Trek, science, gadgets, etc., but I have never been to a Con. Will someone please drag me to one? I’m dying to go!

I am old enough to have owned a black and white TV as an adult. I’m also old enough to have gone disco dancing in college. I know, I know. It was hideous. You don’t have to tell me. I was there, wearing the clothes, singing along, doing the moves.

Divorced, no kids, two dogs.

Breast cancer survivor for 11 years.

Favorite TV show from the past: Murphy Brown, first season when they had the ongoing secretary storyline. Favorite current show: The Closer. Thank you! Thank you so much!

The Liebster Award is given to blogs with fewer than 200 followers. Thank you so much, Sue Ann! As part of the honor, I get to choose five more blogs to pass it on to. Here are some great blogs that deserve bigger readership: